iPhone

A new report from Flurry Analytics shows that health and fitness apps are growing at a faster rate than the overall app market so far in 2014. The analytics firm looked at data from more than 6,800 apps in the category on the iPhone and iPad and found that usage (measured in sessions) is up 62% in the last six months compared to 33% growth for the entire market, an 87% faster pace. Read More

Apple has a new patent (via AppleInsider) that describes something somewhat far-fetched sounding – an actuator for an iPhone camera lens (the part that controls autofocus) that uses artificial muscle material instead of traditional motors to change focus and aperture size. It’s not as sci-fi as it sounds: Artificial muscle material tech has recently become compatible with mass… Read More

Adobe has a slew of new updates to its Creative Cloud suite today, and among them is a new version of Lightroom mobile designed for the iPhone. The app turns your iOS-powered smartphone into a pocket powerhouse of a dark room, taking into account the fact that, for a lot of people — including desktop Lightroom users and more casual photography fans — the iPhone is their main camera. Read More

Microsoft’s Skype client for iPhone has been looking a little long in the tooth; the version that has been in the store until today is essentially still the same client they launched back in 2010, albeit replete with incremental updates along the way. Not so with the new Skype version 5.0, which is redesigned from the ground up, with major changes to the interface and navigation, and… Read More

At Macworld 2001, Steve Jobs famously introduced the “digital hub” strategy for the Mac, making it the device where all of the single-purpose gadgets for things like recording movies or playing music would be managed. At this year’s WWDC event, Apple showed that the iPhone is the new hub, and your Mac, iPad, and everything in the cloud is now just an accessory. Read More

Last year, Apple revealed the biggest change to-date of iOS, the mobile operating system that many of us have been using for years. Now, the true evolution begins. Jony Ive and the iOS team have had plenty of time to listen to feedback and dig deeper into features introduced before Ive ever took control of software. And finally, iOS 8 is here.
We’ve been expecting a new Healthbook… Read More

A new iOS concept video and extremely detailed explanation from UX and graphic designer Jay Machalani imagines how Apple’s iOS operating system could have its own version of Android’s widgets or Windows Phone’s “Live Tiles,” by introducing a new interaction that’s sort of in between each. In a blog post titled “Pushing iOS” the designer… Read More

I see a lot of phones in my work here at TechCrunch, and I’m genuinely impressed with where the average level of quality is at compared to where it was even just five years ago. I’ve seen Android mature so much in that time that it’s amazing – but for all the work Android OEMs have done in terms of narrowing the gap with the iPhone, which had a considerable lead on… Read More

Tim Hortons is Canadian-born, much like myself, and it offers up affordable coffee and donuts, much unlike myself. The company has been making inroads in the U.S. market over the past few years, and today it’s introducing a feature that’s popular at major U.S. competitor Starbucks: mobile payments. The updated Tim Hortons TimmyMe app now lets you pay with a barcode from your phone… Read More

Since the dawn of smartphone time, Apple and Samsung have been battling for the throne. Today, according to research by Counterpoint, Apple currently wears the crown, selling the more iPhones this quarter than any other smartphone and handily beating out all other rivals with the iPhone.
Samsung, however, sold more handsets than any other retailer.
Still, Android is the OS of choice for many… Read More

Apple has applied for a patent (via AppleInsider) that would introduce mechanical shutters to mobile devices that would slide shut when they detect a potential fall or impact, protecting sensitive weak points like speakers and microphones. These areas are currently kept safe using wire mesh and extremely small openings, but a shutter system would make it possible to build devices with bigger… Read More

Apple has a new patent that could pave the way for future solar-powered mobile devices, according to AppleInsider. The new intellectual property describes a method for embedding a solar array within a layer that includes touch sensors, and which can all be fit within a flexible display module, in order to save space in its ever-shrinking electronic devices.
The patent is a modified version of… Read More

Apple has a new patent application published by the USPTO (via AppleInsider) that makes it easier to remember who you’re texting. This could help alleviate the incredibly painful SMS fails where you send a message to the wrong person, occasionally with catastrophic results. The system works using contact pictures employed in the background of text conversations as a big, glaring visual… Read More

A new report from 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman claims Apple is testing a 1704×960 resolution display for its upcoming iPhone. The new display res for the iPhone 6 would allow the device to keep the same screen resolution as the iPhone 5s (16:9) and denser screens in terms of pixels per inch than the current Retina standard, regardless of whether Apple goes with 4.7-inch or 5.5-inch displays… Read More

Apple has a new patent granted today (spotted by AppleInsider) for a side-mounted wraparound display that could be used to add virtual buttons to the edges of future iPhones in place of physical controls. The display would run the circumference of the device, and offer up virtual versions of current physical controls, including volume up/down, but it would also make it possible for Apple to show… Read More

Apple has been working on optical image stabilization tech for use in their iPhones and other devices, according to a new patent application filed with the USPTO (spotted by AppleInsider). This could allow future devices to boost image resolution considerably by stitching together multiple exposures for each picture.
This isn’t exactly how others use optical image stabilization, which… Read More

Update: Our sources have told us that Apple did not in fact relaunch the iPhone 4 in February – it was simply a natural stock out before a fresh production run. There are also still iPhone 4 units in channels in India, our sources say, though the remaining inventory likely won’t be refreshed again before the next device cycle.
Apple has decided to stop selling the iPhone 4 in… Read More

Apple has a new patent granted today by the USPTO (via AppleInsider) which describes a means for reducing the size of a key component of the iPhone (and iPad), making it possible to create ever-smaller gadgets with thinner frames. The piece in question is a camera autofocus module, and the patent describes use of a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) which improves greatly in terms of both… Read More

Samsung is throwing shade once again, naming names in its latest Galaxy S5 TV spot. The promo for the new Android flagship calls out the fact that its camera takes pictures at “twice the resolution” of the iPhone 5s, which is sort of true in a barebones, numbers-on-paper kind of way, but not necessarily reflective of the relative merits of the actual experience of using both devices… Read More